Ukraine accuses Russia of deadly attack on bus hours after peace talks
Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone strike has hit a bus, killing at least nine people and injuring four more, in the country's north-eastern Sumy region, in an attack that took place hours after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct peace talks in years.
"Unfortunately, as a result of a cynical attack by Russians on a bus with civilians, there are dead," the administration said in a Telegram post on Saturday.
"Unfortunately, the death toll has risen to nine."
The bus, which was attacked near the city of Bilopillya while travelling towards Sumy, was "targeted by the Russians", the military administration said.
Ukraine's police also posted photos of a nearly destroyed dark blue passenger van, with the roof torn off and the windows blown out.
"This is not just another shelling — it is a cynical war crime," Ukraine's National Police said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Ihor Tkachenko, head of Sumy's military administration, said on Telegram that a rescue operation was underway.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the Ukrainian report, but Russia's TASS state news agency reported, citing a statement from the defence ministry, that Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military equipment staging area in the Sumy region with drones.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, but thousands have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.
The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Türkiye on Friday failed to broker a temporary ceasefire.
It was the first direct dialogue between the two sides since the early months of the war that Russia launched in February 2022.
During the exchange, Russia and Ukraine decided on an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war each and agreed in principle to meet again for further negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire deal.
Ukraine says the next step should be a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Zelenskyy has called for tougher sanctions on Russia should it reject a US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Russia said it was satisfied with the talks and was ready to keep talking.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's delegation, said the prisoner exchange was one of the largest such swaps since the beginning of the conflict.
Both Moscow and the United States government have also talked up the need for a meeting on the conflict between Mr Putin and President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump, who is growing increasingly frustrated with both Russia and Ukraine as he tries to push them towards a peace settlement, said he was "always considering" secondary sanctions against Moscow if he thought it was blocking the process.
US officials have spoken about possible financial sanctions as well as potential secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.
Reuters/AFP
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